Credits
Editor-in-chief: Jessica Keady
Deputy editor-in-chief: Leo Tse
Head Editors: Chryso Hon, Benjamin Qin
Head of design: Vanessa Ho
Writers:
Annette Chan
Lucas Chan
LeWis lower
Tristan Lui-schwille
Darren seyedin
Leo tse
Jimmy Zeng
Editors: Kaden Kong
Annette Chan
Audrey Lam
Lucas Chan
Paris Wang
Vanessa Wang
Jenny Li
Nicole Lau
Gaudí’s Architectural Odyssey: A Mesmerising Fusion of Nature and Futurism
Annette chan, Wu house
Antoni Gaudí was a visionary architect whose intricate work defied the conventions of the late 19th century, igniting the imagination of millions across the globe Hailing from Catalonia, Spain, he was a genius that combined the exhilarating forces of art, engineering and humanities to create structures that blurred the lines between the natural world and the landscape of modern architecture.
Renowned for seamlessly weaving elements of nature into his designs and creating a symphony of shapes and forms that harmoniously conformed with the environment, Gaudí’s deep connection to nature influenced many of his architectural designs Like his quote says, “The big book, always open and we must strive to read, is that of nature.” One of Gaudí’s most magnificent buildings, the Casa Batlló, holds ubiquitous evidence of biomimetics, the methodology that relates the study of nature to incorporate its natural forms in the field of design. On its main floor, everything from the design of the roofs and knobs to the shape of the fireplace all match shapes and figures derived from elements of nature
Practically, Gaudí’s creative integration of nature’s forms into many of Casa Batlló’s designs carried out important functions that challenged the prevailing stereotypes of his era. To allow exchange of fresh air using a ventilation system was a revolutionary idea in the early 1900s Not only did Gaudí create a functional electrical appliance, but also embraced our roots to nature by modelling the openings after fish gills.
With innovative structural techniques, Gaudí pushed the boundaries of engineering with sheer creativity and skill. The most notable use of this geometric art form was in La Sagrada Familia, where the surfaces of the columns and vaults are linked to the roof using hyperbolic paraboloid, which are, in short, doubly curved surfaces that are almost like a saddle In both the roof and the basement of Gaudí’s last architectural project, Casa Milà, catenary arches hold up the entire building while weaving intricate designs. Gaudí’s structural techniques combine mathematics and art to appeal to the human eye’s attraction to beauty while serving a functional and essential purpose.
Insatiable curiosity underpinned Gaudí’s eminent identity of being a proud, leading pioneer of material experimentation in architecture. Back in the 1900s, most buildings were built with solid external walls, on shallow brick or no foundations. These were typically made using lime-based mortar, with pitched timber roofs sheltered with slates or clay tiles and no underfelt.
Surely it would come as a shock when architect Antoni Gaudí came along and incorporated materials such as ceramics, stained glass and ironwork into homes, parks and basilicas on the streets of Barcelona.
One of the main materials that marked an architectural design as uniquely Gaudí’s were colourful ceramic tiles and mosaics. From Park Güell to Casa Battló, vividly coloured ceramic tiles added vibrant, texture and intricate patterns to the facades and interiors of his buildings. Trencadís, a mosaic technique employing generally discarded and overlooked materials and fragments and repurposing them into stunning art pieces, was largely popularised by Gaudí. These
Contextual innovation was a constant consideration throughout the years of Gaudí’s architectural creations, amalgamating the existing environmental, local culture and historical context. For example, the undulating stone structures and Trencadís-covered benches of mosaic were carved into the hillside of Park Güell, painting a picture of the harmonious relationship between manmade structures and the natural terrain. Clever choices were made in the exterior facade of La Sagrada Familia, where two (sculpted) turtles reside at the bases of the supporting distinct mosaics captured the essence of creativity, manipulating light to transform ordinary structures into extraordinary works of art pillars. Scientifically, turtles have a much longer life expectancy than humans, thus are symbols of the stability of the cosmos and mirror the eternal nature of the Church and their saviour Jesus Christ The varying forms of the turtles’ species directly reflect the geographical location of Barcelona and the basilica itself. Barcelona is often referred to as the city between the mountain and the sea, and Gaudí pays tribute to the city in which he lives and the nature surrounding it through the two turtles. The one closer to the sea is a sea turtle, while the one closer to the mountains is a land tortoise. Another thoughtful design element would be the basilica’s height. From the perspective of any normal visitor, the only special aspect of its height would be how it is looming over the town and the other constructions. However, it can be said that Gaudí’s choice of exact height of the towering Sagrada Familia was well thought out and directly linked to his devotion to God. The central, tallest tower is designed to be exactly 170 metres. This was because he believed that no man-made creation should be taller than, or greater than, a creation of God, hence the basilica was built to be exactly one metre shorter than the mountain of Barcelona: Montjuïc.
Any visitor to Barcelona would be captivated, inspired, and forever transformed by the mesmerising world of Gaudí's architectural symphony. Antoni Gaudí’s legacy has left an undeniable mark on the field of architecture and the city of Barcelona, making it a city renowned for its architectural beauty, bold creativity, and the enduring spirit of Gaudí’s visionary approach to design.
Why innovation will be the death of us
Lucas Chan, Sun House
Albert Einstein. Robert Oppenheimer. These are well known names, not only from the film ‘Oppenheimer’ but for their real-life achievements Einstein created the theory of relativity, where space and time as we know it came to be known through Einstein’s achievements. One of his lesser-known contributions was in the making of the paper towel. Robert Oppenheimer (if you’ve seen the movie you may already know) was the director of the Manhattan project and was responsible for the research and design of the atomic bomb.
You may ask the question, how are these two linked? The Manhattan Project, directed by Oppenheimer, was set in motion by Einstein through a letter to President Roosevelt in 1939, urging for the research into atomic energy and warning of German research into nuclear weapons. Another thing that they have in common, is that they’re both killers. Inadvertently killers, but responsible for the deaths of millions incinerated by Oppenheimer’s innovations nonetheless, arguably urged on by Einstein.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki were examples of when our innovations were used for lethal purposes, and not for the ‘betterment of society’ such as medicine. Some may argue that the atomic bomb was necessary to save countless American and Allied soldiers lives, at the cost of civilian lives. Without the Manhattan Project and the innovation of the atomic bomb, the August 1945 bombings would never have happened and Japan may have continued to fight Although we cannot know for certain whether or not Japan was already beaten and would have surrendered if not for the atomic bomb, Japan (in my opinion) most probably would have continued to fight, as even after the razing of Hiroshima they had not surrendered. This led to Nagasaki as the second target.
In my opinion, the entire point of innovation is to further develop existing information and make it ‘better.’ Innovation, if used correctly, is for the betterment of society. For example, medicine to combat cancer or malaria, renewable energy to lighten the effects of global warming. These things that improve upon what we have, or create what we don’t have that we perhaps should. In the case of the Manhattan project, the innovation ‘bettered society’ in the sense that it saved millions of lives in the war, both Japanese and Allied forces, through the surrender of Japan. It allowed soldiers to come home to their families without further war, and despite the humiliation that the Japanese may have felt, lives were saved. It came at the cost of innocent civilian lives, many of which had nothing to do with the war. ‘The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists’ estimated in 1940 the death toll was around 110,000 mortalities but reassessed in the 1970s to state it could be as high as 210,000 mortalities. However, even if we take the lowest estimate, that’s 110,000 civilians dead; by an innovation that was created by humans, for the destruction of humans, to save humans.
The arms race between the USSR and the USA would last until the collapse of the USSR itself. By the end of the USSR, they had stockpiled 35,000 nuclear weapons. The threat of the nuclear arms race created the risk of a nuclear holocaust, and a term coined ‘MAD’, or mutually assured destruction. Despite the various measures put in place to prevent a nuclear war from happening, according to the Arms Control Association, Russia still has 5889 nuclear warheads at their disposal whilst the USA has 5244.
These innovations are examples of why innovation will be the death of us. By creating bombs to protect themselves, countries also threaten the security of others. Thus, the proliferation of weapons will only continue to happen unless global peace is achieved In my opinion, this will never happen. Therefore, innovation will continue to happen in terms of weapons and their lethal uses.
New advancements are being invented and innovated every day - AI, for example. Yet, this constant pursuit of innovation will one day result in something that we cannot control If we do achieve a fully sentient state of mind in a robot, do they count as a person? If they’re made of metal and have access to weapons, what's stopping them from killing us? Even without AI, as we innovate, we bring new problems, new threats. Eventually, these will get out of hand, and through our innovations, we may bring about the premature extinction of humanity. After all, that almost happened in the Cold War Who’s to say it won’t happen again?
Speaking this new century
Lewis Lower, Shaftesbury House
Steve Jobs releases the iPhone in 2007, the year I was born. The next few years would see social media transform from niche entertainment for tech enthusiasts to the dominant form of communication, with myspace being the first to reach a million monthly users (Ortiz-Ospina, 2019) Although Facebook, Twitter, and similar sites would variously grow, collapse, and dethrone each other, the ‘race’ between them was more akin to a treadmill. The general structure, the internet age, was firmly set in place. With it, communication became faster, cheaper, and more accessible than ever before in human history (Rogers, 2019).
Similarly, from the perspective of the late 1990s and the early 2000s, the 21st century appeared to be a washing-away of all the ideological lines of the past. The USSR’s collapse in 1991 marked, more or less, the end of Communism. Liberal Democracy had won out, the tragedy of the delusion of Socialism had lost, and an air of optimism hung, such that Fukuyama could respectably declare “The End of History” (Spencer, 2019). The last great challenge to the natural progress of Liberal government had succumbed to it, and it seemed only a brief matter of time before the whole world adopted this “final form of human government” (ibid.), wherein free markets would guide the world into higher standards of living, greater personal freedoms, and smarter populace.
It’s not difficult to see where this story goes. Neither of these promises came to fruition. Or maybe they did, but only in horrible poetic ways. Instant connection has made people lonelier and more depressed than ever before (Twenge, 2022), with lowering the barrier for communication ushering in, not a new age of authentic connectedness, but a revolution in the propagation of every manner of conspiracy, extremism, and groupthink. Similarly, whilst the War on Terror could maintain some facade of a final fanning-out of Liberalism against some backwards insignificant recesses of the geopolitical world, the decades-long entanglement that followed could hardly be said to be a show of strength of the world’s democracies The legacy of ‘government by the people’ is a people duped. The Russo-Ukrainian war is the final nail in the coffin of Fukuyama's thesis. The US now again faces Russia, but a Russia capitalised Communism may have lost, but Liberalism certainly has not won.
The unfolding disaster of this century, the disaster of the crashing-down of all old battles, the disaster which we will have to face, has been a quiet one. If one imagines the Cold War, in the theorist Baudrillard’s terms, as a ‘simulation’ of conflict or turmoil (Baudrillard, 2002), battling through proxies, propaganda, terror cells, and so on, then these new wars are 'simulacra’: a simulation of a simulation, an image of an image. As Baudrillard says, “it is the truth which conceals that there is none” (ibid ) Russia no longer even nominally fights for some belief or ideology of its own, but against ‘denazification’, against a cultural symbol of the last century (I do not intend to discredit the fact that there are neo-Nazi elements of the Ukrainian military, but the territorial ambitions of Russia have nothing to do with this fact). Simulacrum also manifests on the US’ side, such as in the sterility of the earlier-mentioned phrase of the DoD: ‘near-peer threat’ No longer is the East a collectivist attack on the Liberty etc Of the individual, but instead is generically, in almost Darwinian terms, ‘a threat’.
In social media, the simulacrum that marks this century manifests as the speeding up into a singularity of the trend cycle (Sinha, 2024). Where a ‘look’’s lifespan used to be counted in years, it’s now counted in months or even weeks. This is achievable, not because of some increase in people’s engagement with ‘looks’, but with precisely the opposite; The cheapening of design philosophy into a set of interchangeable prefixes and suffixes, created for the purpose of creating them, as ‘aesthetics’. We are quiet because we are rapidly running out of things to say, and when we do speak, it never seems to have the same significance it once did.
Understanding this symbolic exhaustion means understanding where the Communist critique, the ‘failure vanquished’ of the last Century, went. The conditions under which Marx wrote, of a clear-cut, (from our current view) almost comically evil bourgeois oppressing the proletarian masses with private militias and gunfire and so on to have them produce no longer exists in the Liberal world. Instead, as theorist Ellul notes, la technique, the technological way of thinking, of ‘optimising’ things, dominates over the more slavish prior importance of Capital (Christians, 1995).
Part of this optimisation is that there is no longer a clear distinction between labour and products. Taking the example of media, before, one would have writers (human capital, labour) working to produce a film (product). With social media, by using the service (i.e. consuming the product), such as by posting/replying/etc., one also does ‘digital labor’ (Malamidis and Papadimitropoulos, 2021) Thus, in the Situationist thinker Debord’s words, “its means and ends are identical” (Debord, 1967). This technological function is all-encompassing, eating at every part of society, not stopping at humanity’s dimension of meaning. Technology, such as in social media, thus capitalises and commodifies the very process of thinking and communicating, voiding our capacity for authentic new thought. Thus, humanity is reduced to what Marcuse calls “one dimensional man”, replacing the vacuum left by the current inability to genuinely imagine for ‘ghosts’, such as Russia’s ‘denazification’, for empty promises of the future. As time processes even these ghosts become empty. What is worshipped is no longer ashes of past meaning, but the memory of ashes.
I might have presented a fairly bleak destructive picture, but maybe it is a destruction, a razing, which might provide the ground for something new if we choose to grab at it. The ‘ghosts’ mentioned earlier function by latching the present away from us, by sucking it up and giving its energy over to the past. Thus, a hope for the future must function in reverse. We must be bound by a certain itch, a latching onto a future object, onto an unborn ghost (maybe an angel?), which taunts us as something real, even though it has not come to pass This would be what the theorist Land calls a “hyperstitional object”, a “self-fulfilling prophec[y]...[which] function[s] causally to bring about [its] own reality” (Bluemink, 2023). We must believe in a future symbol, one which outruns the treadmill of symbolic exhaustion by staying one step ahead in the future, and thereby makes it come about.
To conclude, any positive future, a future of meaning and significance, cannot be properly written about at present. Only shifting shadows and uncertain prefigurements can take place now. This is why I must disappoint and leave concrete answers up to you. Heidegger, the first to diagnose this desert of meaning, advocated an “utter silence” (Ștefan, 2013) around it, since the language of the past was what had driven society to such a dead end. 48 years on, and such a privilege is now untenable; we must say something. Cautiously, but with a certain irrational hope, then, we are compelled to build up something from the ashes: a language of the future.
Innovation and Growth
Tristan Lui-schwille, shaftesbury House
During Spring 2024, President Xi outlined his vision for China’s economic growth to be underpinned by advanced manufacturing capabilities [1]. At the same time, the U.S. Administration has retained the tariffs imposed on China by President Trump and added large subsidies in support of the reindustrialisation of America, seeking to give America the lead in the technologies of the future [2]. In early April 2024, the European Commission formally launched an anti-subsidy investigation into EVs from China [3]. A common theme of these actions is the role of innovation in the economy and its relevance to trade between China and the West.
Talk of Tariffs Represents a Zero Sum View
Notably in the West, global trade has frequently been presented as a “zero sum” game [4, 5]. A zero-sum trading relationship arises when a country’s population can only experience net benefits if these benefits occur at the expense of others. It is using this reasoning that politicians argue for protectionist and isolationist policies, often citing the “protection of workers at home” to prevent foreign exploitation and control.
Economic History Supports Positive Sum View of Trade
There is evidence that the world economy is ‘positive sum’, a situation where everyone can become better off without others losing out [6, 7, 8]. A positive sum global economy as stated above exists where global real income per head rises over time. It turns out that this has in fact has generally been the case; Angus Maddison, economic historian, demonstrated a 10-fold increase in real income per head between 1820 – 2007 [9] This is supported by similar analysis by The World Bank, among others [10].
Several Drivers of a Positive Sum Global Economy
Trade provides countries with resources that they otherwise may be unable to acquire. Specialisation of labour allows workers to be more productive Economies of scale create more opportunities for specialisation. Education helps drive further improvements and further specialisation. Innovation creates new technologies, products, and services that benefit almost everyone with access to them. Of the above drivers, innovation is often argued to be the most important.
Technology A Key Driver of Growth: Empirical Evidence
The importance of technology may be supported by the strong correlation between periods of significant economic growth and periods of innovation such as the industrial revolution. This correlation is highlighted by the works of economists Diego Comin and Bart Hobijn. In a series of papers, they investigated the correlation between a country’s rate of technology adoption and its per capita income. Their data showed that adoption rates of technology account for at least 25% of income per capita differences between countries, concluding that the longer the “lag” between technology creation and adoption, the lower the per capita income [11, 12].
Technology and Economic Theory
Economic theory has also begun to explicitly account for the contribution of innovation to GDP growth Although being a discipline with close to 250 years of history (arguably since Adam Smith’s 1776 “An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations”), many theories of economic growth simplistically stated that making capital more productive would boost growth yet did not provide a model for this process. This black box was opened by Paul Romer, who won a Nobel prize in 2018 for his 1990s work in “integrating technological innovation into long-run macroeconomic analysis,” explicitly highlighting the importance of research and development spending in continued economic growth [13].
Social Costs of Innovation
Though beneficial to high level economic indicators in the long run, innovation is not without its short term drawbacks. Often, when new technology is adopted into society it causes disruption as previous practices are rendered obsolete. This adjustment period often leads to reduction of wages and job loss This can be observed in the U S Census Bureau statistics over the last 150 years, demonstrating how workforce allocation has changed over time. With the majority of the labour force initially focused on agricultural work, yet shifting over time to manufacturing and more recently, from manufacturing to services [14].
Inequalities Are Increasing
Based on the positive sum analysis above, any such job losses should be compensated for by cheaper goods, services and greater wealth. However, as a casual observer of dissatisfaction in America’s manufacturing states will recognise, this is not the case. It is to this dissatisfaction that protectionist politicians are giving voice. Indeed the World Bank’s Gini Index for the United States has shown an increase in inequality since the 1980s It seems that the world’s increasing wealth is not being shared equitably [15].
More Trade and Better Social Policies Would be Preferred
An idealistic solution would be to continue our path to greater free trade and introduce better wealth distribution This would see an increase the size of the wealth pie available to all while at the same time ensuring that wealth is shared mitigating the negative impacts of rapid technological change. However, in today’s political environment it is hard to envision such a pivot occurring.
We Are Left with Decoupling on Both Sides, for Now
On one hand China appears to be actively pursuing the all important domestic technological development as a driver of growth which is independent of the West. On the other, the West is seeking to deprive China of markets for its tech products, while bringing more manufacturing jobs back home.
It remains to be seen if these strategies will achieve their intended objectives: whether the West can reduce its social inequalities on its own, and similarly, whether China can find markets for its high tech products elsewhere.
Innovation Turned Against Mankind
Darren seyedin, sun House
You will often hear the leaders and grandees of the great society that is the theater of the world extol the virtues of innovation. How it has brought us wonders in all fields, technological, cultural, agricultural, in anything of real note, you will hear heaps of praise piled upon the grandeurs of innovation, and how we would be naught without it Indeed, this is true, I doubt any good Harrovian would trade away the luxuries of modern life for the hardships of hunting and gathering. It is thus indisputable that innovation is at its base a good thing, but this should not be the point one wishes to argue, to become a caveman and seclude away, hunting deer and gathering berries. No, one should not seek to reject innovation in all its forms entirely, but simply to determine how it became a wretched thing, turning foul the souls of man in this current day.
One need only take a look at the statistics to grasp what I mean by ‘innovation gone foul’, after all, teenage depression has skyrocketed since the days the internet first arose[1], from where almost half of teens believe that ‘They can’t do anything right.’, ‘Their life is not useful.’, and ‘They do not enjoy life.’ These statistics are unacceptable, but unsurprising. On Instagram, Twitter, or any other social media applications, the user is inundated by posts of people living happier lives than they are, doing meaningful things the user has never done, and achieving deeds so outlandish at such young ages that you cannot help but feel dejected at where you are right now. Worse than the self-loathing, there is also the ‘doomscroll’, in which the user drowns in a wave of bad news, their mind depressed and their faith in humanity lost, and all so that the algorithm may keep them there for as long as possible, instead of doing more productive activities, such as feeling the tender touch of grass upon one's fingers when gardening.
As opposed to the doom and gloom of today, people in the past were much happier, despite their harder lives. Indeed, the life expectancy in 1400-1600s Europe was a meagre 30-40 years[2] compared to the 70-80 years of the modern day2 That is more than double Combined with the many technological and cultural comforts such as air conditioning, cars, accurate medical science, etcetera, logic could only dictate that the modern-day denizen is happier, relaxes more, and lives a better life in general. This is unfortunately not true. Whether it was from the lowliest peasant to the highest Emperor, the work and lives they led were far less comfortable than ours, yes, and the work done was harder across the board Indeed, almost half a million died building the great wall of China[3], and countless more must’ve died building millions of other projects without the aid of mechanization, from the steeples of churches to the simple cottage of a tenant farmer, but no matter the work done, whether it was sowing the fields or tallying up tax money, it was rewarding.
The peasant would celebrate his year’s labours with the high harvest festival, and the King would celebrate his reign with tournaments aplenty, and with no one to compare themselves to, knowing that those who live infinitely better than they do so because of birth and not because of deed there is no wonder why they would almost definitely be happier. Now, what would the modern-day office wage do when they finish their week’s labour? They misuse their pay and destroy their liver in some pale consolation for their work, and return two days later, bleary eyed and as miserable as ever. How is that life? That is no real good way of living, that is limping from one day to another, with no real means of relaxation, save for the paltry days of paid vacation no one ever takes[4] for fear of retaliation from the higher-ups. Is it any wonder why people are miserable? The heart of modern-day malaise, one may say, is that there is no more purpose in the jobs in many a worker anymore, and without purpose, one is doomed to melancholy, adrift in the sea of the world with no compass or star to guide them to the safe harbour of meaning. It leaves a hole in one’s life, and that hole, try as many may, cannot be filled by even the greatest of modern amenities.
So, what then, is the solution? Surely, we could not revert all to the technological levels of the 1300s! We cannot turn back the wheels of time, but we can slow the overclocked engine of innovation sending us careening down a bumpy hill when a slower pace will do us all good. The root of our issue is not that we were always meant to be stuck in a certain time period, it is time we have not allowed society to catch up with the technology we are constantly advancing. If humanity would slow down, take a breather, and allow for our brains to fully comprehend the situation around us, we would be all the better for it Icarus’ folly was not that he deigned to fly too close to the sun, but that he never thought to first develop a higher capacity for hot temperatures. Much like King Mithridates and poison, we need to take innovation in small doses, to train up a tolerance, so that we are not caught unprepared by actions of our own doing. The gears of innovation must spin on, but at a slower, more manageable pace. Humanity must sacrifice speed for preparation, so that we may guarantee that the next time the gear spins round, it does not go flying off the machine entirely.
The Causes and Impact of the Revolutions of 1848
Europe in a Time of Change
Leo Tse, Churchill House
Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the industrialisation of agriculture has decreased the need for farm labour. This has led to unemployed farm workers flocking rapidly to urbanising cities in search of new job opportunities. This was partially because of the change in perception that agriculture no longer existed only as sustenance for the farmers but, as a marketable commodity that could be sold for profit. This incentivised farmers to produce excess crops to sell to urbanised areas which led to an increase in economic growth, freeing up labour for the production of consumer goods
However, the exponential rise in rural-urban migration also caused a rapid increase in population. This overwhelmed the existing infrastructure of urban areas, forcing the poor to resort to living in gruelling conditions. The most appalling deficiencies were the lack of sanitation, fresh water, and functional sewage systems A sizable portion of people were unemployed with no stable income, thereby straining public infrastructure by not contributing to the economy, which did not improve living conditions or increase their chances of economic stability. The increasing automation used in the production sector also created concerns within the community of skilled urban artisans as they feared the factories would replace their jobs, leading to more economic uncertainty This sparked dissatisfaction with the government as it was not able to adapt to these rapid changes and protect those displaced by industrial automation.
With the increasing automation of industry and increasing wealth of those in power, governments were inclined to adopt the philosophy of Laissez-faire, which directly translates to ‘allow to do.’ This is the philosophy of leaving the free market to run its course without government intervention; economic growth and innovation are only promoted by competition through the free market for individual desires and profit. This policy, however, led to the further separation of the classes.
With the doctrine of Laissez-faire placing heavy emphasis on individual liberty and responsibility, the poor had to be responsible for improving their own situations. However, factory owners, on the other hand, lived in a world of economic stability and excess wealth compared to those who were living from paycheck to paycheck. In terms of laws and rules, factory owners enjoyed no accountability for workplace injuries which were common due to the long 12-16 hour work shifts that workers had to do for 6 days a week on no minimum wage. Workplace injuries were a daily occurrence, and victims were often fired without compensation or medical attention. This caused tension between wealthy factory owners and poor workers. This tension later became directed toward the government’s inability to protect the workers who were exploited by the bourgeoisie. Moreover, the dissatisfaction from the government’s inability to adapt to the change in employment and work was the very thing that brought about by the industrial revolution. Therefore, this resulted in a general hostility amongst the lower classes towards the monarchs at the time.
Dissatisfaction towards the governments of Europe increased in the middle class as well. Following the age of enlightenment and industrialisation, new and niche philosophies began to proliferate in the middle classes as books became increasingly available to them. In addition, the number of people yearning for the prospect of the rule of law, individual rights, and a constitution in a Europe dominated by reactionary monarchies increased noticeably Out of the age of enlightenment and Napoleon’s conquest came the idea of a nation: people united by a common national and cultural identity and desire for self-determination. This idea drew a stark contrast to the largely local and feudal status quo of the late 18th and early 19th century. It made the aristocracy of Europe paranoid as the rising call for nationalism and individual representation in government would have undermined the legitimacy of the rulers at the time , since their rule stemmed from dynastic succession and the theory of divine right instead of popular support of the people.
In the congress of Vienna after Napoleon’s defeat, the soon-to-be Chancellor of Austria Klemens Vvon Metternich attempted to stifle the flames of liberty and nationalism. He wanted to uphold the status quo of dynastic rulers and to prevent revolutions against the traditional monarchs of Europe through the use of harsh censorship and secret police under the Carlsbad Decrees The diets (the deliberative body of the Holy Roman Empire) of the gGerman confederation were asked to impose harsh censorship on publications. Student clubs were disbanded and placed under supervision. Nonetheless, his efforts proved to be futile. Even with the harsh crackdowns of liberal sentiment and press censorship that was imposed, reformist and liberal societies all over Europe were still congregating in secret in cafes and private clubs From the Carbonari in Italy and Hungarians in Austria to Decemberists in Russia, these early movements failed in achieving their goals. However, their legacy paved the way for numerous reforms and served as a prelude for the storm to come.
The social unrest was exacerbated by poor crop harvests. In the 1840s, agriculture remained the largest economic sector in European countries. With growing urbanisation and constant population growth, European countries became increasingly dependent on a single type of croplike potatoes or grain.
This made European societies especially susceptible to plant-based diseases such as the potato blight which destroyed potato crops in western and northern Europe. This caused widespread famine in regions that relied upon the potato crop for survival. and led to over 75% crop loss in Ireland in 1846, 50% crop loss in Prussia in 1846 and almost 90% crop loss in Belgium in 1845. Paired with an especially poor harvest of wheat and rye in 1846, this led to a period of widespread hunger nicknamed the “hungry 40s.” The lack of food caused food prices to temporarily skyrocket, whwiwhich in turn led to a decrease in industrial demands and a slump in production. This was further exacerbated by many civil unrest and riots in cities and towns stirred up by poor management from the government in response to the harvests. This created further political unrest that ultimately gave states an ultimatum: constitutional reforms or revolution.
Birthplace of Revolutions
Following the French Revolution, France was seen as the birthplace of new political philosophies and the roots of social unrest. Ideas ranging from the early conception of socialism to the doctrine of Laissez-Faire capitalism were all pioneered by French political thinkers. After the fall of Napoleon, the Bourbon monarch Louis XVIII was restored to power by the victors. By this time, the ideas of liberalism and egalitarianism had been thoroughly entrenched in French society, making restoring the autocracy of the monarchy prior to the French Revolution impossible. The death of French autocracy was cemented when King Louis XVIII granted the charter of 1814 which gave the French people a constitution in which many progressive and liberal views from the Revolution were retained. The economic changes accelerated by the revolution saw a shift in power economically from land-owning upper-class nobility to wealthy middle-class merchants
This led to another revolution in 1830 when the Bourbon King Charles X brought back unpopular and regressive policies, including discrediting the 1789 French Revolution by introducing compensation for the losses of the autocracy (the biens nationaux) as well as strict censorship and restoration of the death penalty for stealing church property (The Anti Sacrilege Act) This spread fear across the well-educated classes of France as they believed this was a move back to autocratic rule. In ‘Three Glorious Days’ (Les Trois Glorieuses) of July 1830, Louis- Philippe of Orléans was installed onto the throne as a constitutional monarchy replacing the previous House of Bourbon. This led to the adoption of popular sovereignty instead of hereditary and divine right The government was now given legitimacy by the consent of the people
Under Louis-Philippe, only about 1% of the population was allowed to vote based on land ownership, which caused strife from small business owners and educated students. On top of tension from the middle class, the French economy entered a phase of depression in 1846 after a year of poor harvest, corruption, and protectionism. As unemployment skyrocketed, a third of the population of Paris applied for poor relief. The upper class focused on protecting their wealth instead of trying to solve the issue. The King remained silent on this issue, further tarnishing his reputation, and betraying the trust of the people.
In Paris, the middle class held fundraising banquets to circumvent the ban on political meetings and to hold political rallies where speakers expressed their dissatisfaction with the Government. This grew into large-scale demonstrations in the street of Paris that denounced the King and his government. The entire situation exploded when a detachment of soldiers fired upon the crowd who gathered outside the offices of the foreign ministry. The King gave the marshall of France emergency power and ordered him to crush the uprising and bring order to Paris. But all that did was provide the rebels with armed and trained men as the army began defecting in large numbers After the King lost the support of the National Guard, he lost all hope to defend his throne. He signed the act of abdication and went into exile in Britain. With the Second French Revolution, Europe fell into one of the largest periods of social unrest with the most greatest number of attempted revolutions in its history.
Spark of Revolution in Italy
Although Napoleon had conquered the Italian peninsula, he did not unify it. The idea of Italy was not a familiar concept at the time as northern Italian and southern Italian states had their distinctive own distinct languages and cultures with no standardised infrastructure between them. Napoleon’s initial conquest of Italy led to the simplified political spectrum of Italy and to 8 different republics. These republics were installed by the French based on their revolutionary ideas. However, these governments failed to enforce the ideals due to constant violence between the Italians and the French occupiers.
After the republics fell to the coalition forces, Napoleon reconquered the Italian states and enforced much stricter control over the states, annexing northwestern Italy into France proper. This created greater hostility towards the French and prompted the Italian intellectuals to conclude that their republics were unsuccessful due to French intervention and control. They had taken ideas from the French revolution and mutated them into their own Italian set of ideas. However diverse these ideas were, there was a single constant among them all: independence by the hands of Italians themselves, without foreign intervention and meddling
An extremely influential character during Italy's effort to combat foreign influence is Giuseppe Mazzini. He had been in Italian nationalism and unification groups. This led him to be a target for local authorities, who arrested and exiled him. He believed that groups at the time were too disjointed and disconnected to effectively influence the masses For this reason, he formed a new movement called “Giovane Italia”, which is far more centralised. It effectively influenced the masses through pamphlets and publications. His movement is also commonly considered to be the first Italian political party. His main objective was the creation of a democratic Italian nation connected by culture and history and ruled by the people, for the people.
With the election of a new liberal Pope Pius IX, The Papalcy indirectly gave his blessing to the revolutionaries through pardoning all political prisoners in 1847 and commissioning institutional reforms in the papacy. This prompted the Austrian occupiers of northern Italian states to station forces inside the Papal states as a threat to instil fear in Italian revolutionaries. However, this backfired as it only moved Italian rulers closer to the revolutionaries and provided them with new sympathies, antagonising the Austrians. A year of a poor harvest in 1846 and rising food prices, in addition to this, all compounded into large-scale demonstrations on January 1848 on the peninsula with demonstrators declaring loyalties to Pope Pius IX followed by small-scale fighting between Italian nationalists and Austrian troops on January 3rd. This escalated when the crowd of demonstrators in Palermo, Sicily launched a major revolt on January 12th, sparking revolutions in the Italian states.
Iron and Blood in the German States
In the middle of Europe exists a large plain, wealthy in natural resources, and a people united by a single language and culture Even so, they never united to form a single nation Until the Enlightenment, the concept of Germany as a unified country was foreign and unfamiliar. From the provinces of Germania and Germanic Barbaricum during the Roman Empire to the collection of small city-states that formed the Holy Roman Empire, Germany had always been fractured or under the rule of a foreign power. During Napoleon's conquest, he dissolved the Holy Roman Empire and formed the Confederation of the Rhine. Although it was a mere puppet of Paris, it gave the German middle class a taste of nationalism through a united Germany.
After the defeat of Napoleon and the Congress of Vienna, the Confederation of the Rhine was dissolved for the more conservative German confederation which gave the individual German states more independence similar to that of the time of the Holy Roman Empire This caused a persistent issue of social unrest in the early 19th century in the German Confederation, symbolized by the Hambacher fest at Hambach castle in Bavaria. Around 30,000 people, regardless of class, gathered in protest against the heavy political repression and heavy taxation. The attendees demanded equality before the law, freedom of expression, and freedom of consciousness It was in this event that the black, gold, red flag was used to symbolise German nationalism. The journalist Philipp Jakob Siebenpfeiffer wrote ‘the German people have had to wait for this for centuries,’ describing the severity of this event. After the February Revolution in France, revolutionary ideas spread across the German Confederation, beginning with Baden in February and lastly to Berlin in March.
Impact of the 1848 Revolutions
As the dust settled, the revolutions had been crushed by the reactionary monarchs or ultimately returned to an autocratic government The failure of the revolutions was primarily due to the poor organisation and division of the revolutionaries;, the liberal nationalists had little in common with radical socialists after the revolution had initially succeeded. The same defeatist sentiment was additionally echoed by French socialist Pierre-Joseph Proudon, who famously said, “We have been beaten and humiliated… scattered, imprisoned, disarmed, and gagged. The fate of European democracy has slipped from our hands.”.
Although the democratic goals of the revolutions had failed, they managed to change the social structure of Europe significantly. Feudalism became abolished in German states, universal male suffrage persisted in France, and the middle class retained political and social gains from the revolutions as well as reforms in Netherland and Denmark. Even Great which avoided largescale social unrest had introduced sweeping reforms after the Chartist movement had failed after its 1848 petition
The revolutions also paved way for the unification of Germany and Italy in 1871. The Prussian statesmen Otto von Bismarck who gained fame and recognition after helping crush the liberal revolutionaries in Berlin, would continue to unify the German states under the Prussian banner to become the German Empire. After defeating the Emperor of France Napoleon III in the 1871 Franco-Prussian War, Napoleon himself gained power after the 1848 presidential election, with 74.2% of the vote. The unification of Italy was completed by Giuseppe Garibaldi under King Victor Emmanual II to form the Kingdom of Italy in 1871, Garibaldi himself being a revolutionary general who gained experience after the 1848 revolutions in Italy and continued to fight for Italian Independence.
The 1848 revolutions were one of the largest periods of social unrest in Europe. In addition to the states mentioned, social unrest, ranging from local riots to attempted revolutions erupted in Austria, Denmark, Hungary (under Austrian rule), Ukraine (Galicia), Sweden, Switzerland, and Poland (Greater Poland under Prussian rule), Romania and Ireland. The influences of it can still be felt today, with unified Germany and Italy as indirect consequences of the revolutions of 1848. The shadow of the civil unrest stretches far, influencing countless momentous events, including both World Wars and the events that followed. The 1848 revolutions were also a period of significant political and philosophical breakthroughs, with socialism and various interpretation of liberalism having roots in the cafés of the mid-19th century.
Tusk’s new government: perceived through the lens of abortion
Jimmy Zeng, Sun house
With the new government finally replacing the long 8-year rule of Law and Justice (PIS) in Poland, many have questioned what direction this new centrist government, Civic Coalition (KO) and Trzecia Droga (Third Way), is going to steer Poland towards Growing up in Poland, I have lived through the process of it becoming a developed nation, finally being recategorised by the FTSE in 2018. One thing that has not changed throughout most of my life there is the domineering party of PIS. The rise of PIS is largely due to the leadership of the anti-communist Jarosław Kaczyński who worked in Solidarność and aided in the fall of the Soviet Union. This fact was one of the many reasons PIS was welcomed so fondly when it formed in 2001. This party, good or bad is not for me to decide but what it can show is Poland's deep and complex emotions towards previous trauma and the general outlook on life So with PIS finally out of government, how is the new KO government led by Donald Tusk going to handle such sovereignty? There is no better way to review and predict how the new government is going to fair than through the topic of abortion.
Why abortion?
Abortion has been a very controversial topic in such a conservative and traditional country but lately, Tusk and some of his government officials have been trying to break from this convention of criminating abortion. The attempt to innovate on new abortion legislation has only seen conflict, clash and collision I believe only by dissecting piece by piece on what's been going on lately with this legislation can we see how the new government will lead the future of Polish citizens and what kind of backlash they will encounter.
History
First and foremost, abortion is illegal in Poland. It is not illegal to get an abortion but assisting in giving an abortion may lead to imprisonment of up to 8 years so people generally group getting an abortion and aiding in abortion as the same action and will this be grouped further down this article.
There have been attempts at rewriting or repealing the 1993 anti-abortion act (a translated copy can be found in the works cited). In 2021, a strict and restrictive abortion law was introduced in full force reinforcing the 1993 anti-abortion act which reasonably led to multiple protests from activists. Members of the MEP have ostracised and condemned the Polish government for implementing such a law which is “an attack on women’s and fundamental rights.”
Abortion is viewed to be illegal due to it violating Article 38 of the Polish constitution, which was enacted in 1997 shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union and the rise of the Republic of Poland, where it states “Rzeczpospolita Polska zapewnia każdemu człowiekowi prawną ochronę życia.” which roughly translates to “The Republic of Poland shall ensure the legal protection of the life of every human being.”
Apart from breaches against the constitution, Poland is filled with conservatives who fear another wave of fascism or communism overtaking their nation. This leads to Poland being one of the most xenophobic countries in the world The reason for such hatred and fear is partly due to major events in the 20th Century when she was taken over by the Nazi regime and then controlled as a satellite state by the Soviet Union during the period of the Cold War. After the victory of Solidarność overthrowing the last remnants of Communism in Poland, Roman Catholicism rose from the ashes of Communism into many hearts of Polish citizens providing hope and comfort but also traditional views and outlook on life
Surprisingly, around 30 years ago, Poland had some of the most liberal laws regarding abortion under Soviet rule, but with the quick rise of Catholicism in the 1990s, everything changed. Catholicism has taken over many lives embedding the idea of the sanctity of life where abortion is practically viewed as murder In the Bible, it can be inferred that life begins at conception as God tells humanity “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart.” which means abortion is practically murder as you are taking one's life.
Many of those who lived through the revolution are now the majority of the Polish population and with PIS formed through trauma of the past, it is reasonable and understandable to assume that PIS was able to relate to its citizens and the very reason why it was so powerful.
Context
After the reign of PIS, the coalition consisted of the Civic Coalition led by current prime minister Donald Tusk and the Third Way, consisting of Polska 2050 and Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe/Polish People’s Party (PSL). The formation of the coalition government was born during the 2023 Parliamentary elections and is due to Poland rejecting the electoral system of First Past the Post but the use of Proportional Representation which encourages and allows a more diverse and as the name suggests, proportional pool of parties within Poland As democratic and legitimate as it sounds, it is also the reason for such conflict within the governing party in Poland as it forces Donald Tusk to form a coalition government in order to have an absolute majority over PIS which is still currently the most powerful party there is. With the coalition government in power, many major initiatives have been planned.
Regarding abortion, Tusk plans to decriminalise abortion for the first 12 weeks of pregnancy but there has been no mention of legalisation for medical practitioners, it has been implied in recent interviews and Sejm (Polish parliament) that he with the decriminalisation of abortion, so will come with the legalisation of aiding in abortion, however, there may be compromised due to the major part of Polish citizens already unhappy with this. This plan does not come with peace and smoothness but with internal conflict and obstacles to overcome…
Firstly, one of the main obstacles as discussed before is the people of Poland. Her people hold traditional views which hinder progress on liberal legislation and projects. This is seen through fear in the eyes of the Eurosceptics who are increasingly paranoid with Tusk’s ever-growing intimate relationship with the European Union. This outlook on life is shared by the president of Poland Andrzej Duda who is part of the PIS party
The president being part of the opposition of Tusk is another hurdle the government needs to jump over as the president can veto any legislation it deems to be unfit for the Polish people. President Duda has been openly arguing with Prime Minister Tusk lately and their everlasting feud can be seen on their social media bashing each other for what they are doing.
Internally, the conflict lies within the fact that the government is a coalition formed by 3 different parties: Civic Coalition, PSL and Polska 2050. Civic Coalition or KO is a party which consists of Tusk’s main party, Civic Platform and many other small modern parties Donald Tusk leads the entirety of KO; KO is the most liberal and left-wing party out of the 3 in the coalition government. Tusk has had experience leading as Prime Minister in the 2000s but will likely face harsher opposition in the 2020s. The Third Way consists of right-centrist parties PSL and Polska 2050 and they are one of the major factors in stopping and halting any new abortion legislation. Hołowia leading Polska 2050 is a major player in halting abortion legislation, with criticism from the public lately, he has pinned the blame on PSL, calling them “bardzo konserwatywny” meaning “incredibly conservative’ which is not all wrong. The Third Way consists of mostly conservative Christian democrats, the only reason they are in coalition with Tusk is to face against PIS. This unlikely partnership has caused nothing but trouble in the progression of new abortion legislation.
What’s the Haps
As ongoing protests ensue, pressure continues to grow for parliament to finally make an abortion decision. However, Hołowia keeps postponing debates about abortion in the Sejm. Hołowia, leader of Polska 2050 and marshall of the lower house of parliament, argues that debates are to be postponed so it does not interfere with the current local government campaigns. He has done this by freezing any debate about abortion from March 6-8 to April 11th. Ostensibly it seems that the Marshall wishes for a fair and democratic election but is this true? Hołowia, a previous host of Mam Talent! (Poland’s version of Got Talent!), who leads the Third Way may intentionally try to sabotage their own government's abortion bill due to their strong Catholic views. Although not openly stated, the Third Way is a party based upon Catholic and conservative beliefs and it is only reasonable to assume that they would oppose such an abortion bill Tusk proposes.
During debates within the Sejm, the Third Way proposes a referendum for such a major topic which impacts the lives of Polish citizens. This may seem like an honourable way to democratically properly show the demographic in Poland, however, what many predict will happen is pro-life fundamentalist Christian organisations will sour the referendum results with their “anti-women” campaign even if a wide majority of the population is in favour of abortion. OKO.press, an award-winning journalism body, held a survey about this topic before the Third Way had a chance with their referendum and the results are not that surprising. Around 92% of respondents to the survey want the legalisation of abortion up to 12 weeks of pregnancy These respondents also mostly voted for KO and or the Third Way and other left-wing parties. These largely match up as Lewica - a small left-wing party- and all other small left-wing parties are in favour of liberalisation of abortion rights.
The deputy speaker of the Sejm who is part of Lewica has said that it is a matter of one's own body and not for politics to decide the fate of their own wellbeing. Hołowia by freezing such debates has detached himself from the electorate and any further support
What Does it all Mean
This chaotic and complex abomination of politics seems like it's going nowhere but looking into it piece by piece can reveal what it all means and determine the future of Polish politics.
What surveys have truly shown is that the people of Poland are moving towards a much more liberal direction, especially with the rise of the younger generation. Alternatively, the people have not become more liberal but rather much more opposed towards being at a standstill supporting PIS while still being a very conservative nation. Recent surveys show that if only women voted, Konfederacja (a right-wing party similar to PIS) would not have entered the Sejm, PIS would have lost its majority while KO and the Left would have gained the most. It also shows rights have been an increasing issue throughout the general population with equality being the main concern. Many more protests have risen and more people are speaking up, this is also reflected in the recent LGBTQ+ protests happening in Warsaw.
But what does this truly mean for the government?
It just means Tusk is going to have a much harder time making progress The coalition might be at a deadlock with each party's views contradicting each other, the heterogeneity will lead to nothing but another era of nothingness. Tusk will face opposition not just from PIS but also internally with the Third Way attempting to push its agenda. This is shown through bills being compromised as Tusk is unable to fully legalise abortion but only decriminalise abortion in his proposals for the future of the country This fierce opposition and hurdles will last mainly with the presidency being part of PIS; future bills can be vetoed immediately so all Tusk can do is wait patiently till the next presidential election in 2025 and hope PIS does not win again.
The future of Poland is heading towards a much more liberal direction, although very slow, it is still moving forward to have the same societal standards as its neighbouring countries This journey will not be of peace and stability but will face countless obstacles such as tradition and trauma from the past.
It is unknown how Tusk’s government will finally handle abortion but by talking about it and taking a step back, what it can do is through this microcosm of the government truly show how the new parliament will act and where Poland and her citizens are headed.
Citations:
Gaudí’s Architectural Odyssey: A Mesmerising Fusion of Nature and Futurism Luís, José “Biometrics on the Main Floor of Casa Batlló ” Casa Batlló, 9 Mar 2015, https://www casabatllo es/en/news/biomimetics-on-the-main-floor-of-casa-batllo/ Sagrada Familia Interiors | Understanding Gaudi’s Architecture ” Sagrada Familia Barcelona, https://sagradafamilia barcelona-tickets com/sagrada-familia-tower-interior/ “Sagrada Familia ” Buffaloah, 2015, https://buffaloah com/a/virtual/spain/barc/sagr/nativ/nativ html#:~:text=The%20bases%20of%20the%20facade,studying%20it%20in%20the%20countryside
“Amazing Facts about Sagrada Familia in Barcelona ” Catalonia Hotels & Resorts Blog, 2 Mar 2022, https://www cataloniahotels com/en/blog/amazing-facts-about-sagradafamilia-in-barcelona/ “Casa Mila Architecture | Best Things To See ” Barcelona Tickets, 2023, https://www barcelona-tickets com/casa-mila-tickets/casa-mila-architecture/
Why Innovation Will be the Death of us The Atlantic - https://www theatlantic com/magazine/archive/1946/12/if-the-atomic-bomb-had-not-been-used/376238/ The Bulletin - https://thebulletin org/2020/08/counting-the-dead-at-hiroshima-and-nagasaki/ Office of the Historian - https://history state gov/milestones/19451952/atomic#: :text=Though%20it%20inspired%20greater%20confidence,Republic%20of%20China%20in%201964 Harvard School - https://www hks harvard edu/publications/what-happened-soviet-superpowers-nuclear-arsenal-clues-nuclear-security-summit Arms Control Association - https://www armscontrol org/factsheets/Nuclearweaponswhohaswhat Council of Europe - https://www coe int/en/web/artificial-intelligence/history-ofai#: :text=1940%2D1960%3A%20Birth%20of%20AI,of%20machines%20and%20organic%20beings
Speaking This new Century Baudrillard, J Edited by Poster, M (2002) Jean Baudrillard: Selected Writings Stanford University Press, second edition Bluemink, M (2023, December 21st) Afterword of Semiotics of the End: New Beginnings Institute of network cultures https://networkcultures org/blog/2023/12/21/afterword-of-semiotics-of-the-end-newbeginnings/ Christians, C Edited by Glasser, T and Salmon, C (1995) Public Opinion and the Communication of Consent The Guilford Press, pp 156-161 Debord, G (1967) Translated by Knabb, K (2002) The Society of the Spectacle N p , p 9 Malamidis, H and Papadimitropoulos, V (2024, January 4th) The Transformative Potential of Platform Cooperativism: The Case of CoopCycle Triple C, volume 22, issue 1 https://www triplec at/index php/tripleC/article/view/1418 Ortiz-Ospina, E (2019, September 18th) The rise of social media Our World in Data https://ourworldindata org/rise-of-social-media Rogers, S (2019, October 15th) The Role Of Technology In The Evolution Of Communication Forbes https://www forbes com/sites/solrogers/2019/10/15/the-role-oftechnology-in-the-evolution-ofcommunication/?sh=6101e3c0493b Sinha, U (2024, January 20th) Is the 2000s retro? How social media is killing the trend cycle NEWSNATION https://www newsnationnow com/business/tech/social-mediatrendcycle/#: :text=Social%20media%2C%20particularly%20TikTok%2C%20has,the%20point%20of%20near%20collapse &text=In%20the%20fashion%20world%2C%20the, %2C%20peak%2C%20decline%20and %20obsolescence
Spencer, N (2019, August 7th) Why history didn’t end Theos https://www theosthinktank co uk/comment/2019/08/07/why-history-didnt-end Ștefan, V (2013, November 20th) Communication of Silence at Martin Heidegger: Sygetics – Logics of Thinking Silence International Letters of Social and Humanistic Sciences, p 49 https://www ssoar info/ssoar/bitstream/handle/document/54474/ssoar-ilshs-2014-17-vladutescuCommunication of Silence at Martin pdf?sequence=1 Twenge, J (2022, April 11th) How Much Is Social Media to Blame for Teens’ Declining Mental Health? Institute for Family Studies https://ifstudies org/blog/how-much-issocial-media-to-blame-for-teensdeclining-mental-health
Innovation and Growth
[1] Edward White and Cheng Leng, Will Xi’s manufacturing plan be enough to rescue China’s economy?, Financial Times, March 27th 2024
[2] Gideon Rachman, The Real Reasons for the West’s Protectionism, Financial Times, 18th September, 2023
[3] Unspecified Author, Commission investigation provisionally concludes that electric vehicle value chains in China benefit from unfair subsidies, European Commission, 12th June 2024 (link)
[4] Antonio de Lecea, Overcoming Zero Sum Games to Sustain Growth and Globalisation, Centre for Economic Policy Research, 14th March 2018
[5] John Burn-Murdoch, Are we Destined for a Zero-Sum Future? Financial Times, 22nd September, 2023
[6] Martin Wolf, The Dangers of Living in a Zero-Sum World Economy, Financial Times, 19th December, 2007
[7] Unspecified Author, Zero Sum Economics: The Fallacy of the Zero Sum Game in Economic Theory, Faster Capital, 8th February, 2024 (link)
[8] Antonio de Lecea, Overcoming Zero Sum Games to Sustain Growth and Globalisation, Centre for Economic Policy Research, 14th March 2018
[9] Angus Maddison, The World Economy: The Contours of World Development, 2001 [10] Unspecified Author, GDP per capita United States 1960 – 2023, World Bank website (link) [11] Diego A Comin, Bart Hobijn, An Exploration of Technology Diffusion, April 2008 [12] Carmen Nobel, How Technology Adoption Affects Global Economies, Harvard Business School Working Knowledge, 30th July, 2012 [13] Rui Zhao, Technology and Economic Growth: From Robert Solow to Paul Romer, Wiley, 19th December 2018 [14] Adrian Peralta Alva ; Agustin Roitman, Technology and the Future of Work, IMF, 28th September, 2018 [15] Unspecified Author, Gini Index United States 1965 – 2021, World Bank website (link)
Innovation Turned Against Mankind
1: Schlott, Rikki “Number of Teens Who ‘don’t Enjoy Life’ Has Doubledwith Social Media ” New York Post, New York Post, 19 June 2023, nypost com/2023/06/19/number-ofteens-who-dont-enjoy-life-has-doubled-with-social-media/ 2: Basaraba, Sharon “How Has Life Expectancy Changed throughout History?” Verywell Health, Verywell Health, 23 June 2023, www verywellhealth com/longevity-throughouthistory-2224054
3: “Great Wall of China - Length, Map & Facts ” History Com, A&E Television Networks, www history com/topics/ancient-china/great-wall-of-china Accessed 19 Apr 2024 4: Baluch, Anna “Average Pto in the US & Other Pto Statistics (2024) ” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 21 July 2023, www forbes com/advisor/business/ptostatistics/#key pto statistics and trends section
The Causes and Impact of the Revolutions of 1848 Adegun, Olumuyiwa Bayode “Shanty Settlements in Nineteenth-Century Europe: Lessons from Comparison with Africa ” Comparative Approaches to Informal Housing around the Globe, edited by Udo Grashoff, UCL Press, London, 2020, pp 186–201 Britannica “Carlsbad Decrees ” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc , 26 July 2007, https://www britannica com/topic/Carlsbad-Decrees Britannica “Laissez-Faire ” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc , 14 Dec 2021, https://www britannica com/topic/laissez-faire Britannica “The Italian Republics of 1796–99 ” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc , https://www britannica com/place/Italy/The-Italian-republics-of1796-99
Charles River Editors The Revolutions of 1848: The History and Legacy of the Massive Social Uprisings across Europe Charles River Editors, 2021 “Hambach Castle, Germany ” Culture and Creativity, https://culture ec europa eu/cultural-heritage/initiatives-and-success-stories/european-heritage-label/europeanheritage-label-sites/hambach-castle-germany “Industrial Revolution Working Conditions ” History on the Net, Salem Media, 2 Dec 2021, https://www historyonthenet com/industrial-revolution-working-conditions McLean, John “History of Western Civilization II ” France after 1815 | History of Western Civilization II, Lumenlearning, https://courses lumenlearning com/suny-hcccworldhistory2/chapter/france-after1815/#: :text=of%20the%20nation %E2%80%9D-,The%20Bourbon%20Restoration%20was%20the%20period%20of%20French%20history%20following,fashion%2C%20and% 20the%20exiles%20returned
Narayan, Saarang “The Seeds of the ‘Springtime of the Peoples:" A Study in the Causes of the Revolutions of 1848 ” Inquiries Journal, Inquiries Journal, 1 May 2016, http://www inquiriesjournal com/articles/1411/the-seeds-of-the-springtime-of-the-peoples-a-study-in-the-causes-of-the-revolutions-of-1848 Park, Young Jin “History of Unemployment in Industrial Society ” WHKMLA : History of Unemployment in Industrial Society, Nov 2008, https://www zum de/whkmla/sp/0910/ferrari/ferrari2 html#: :text=At%20the%20very%20beginning%20of,not%20have%20much%20effective%20demand Rapport, Michael 1848: Year of Revolution Basic Books, 2010
“The Revolutions of 1848 Facts, Worksheets, Features & Outcomes ” School History, 29 Apr 2021, https://schoolhistory co uk/modern/the-revolutions-of1848/#: :text=The%20Revolutions%20of%201848%20led,of%20them%20ended%20in%20failure &text=In%20the%20Habsburg%20lands%2C%20feudalism%20was%20elimina ted%20in%20Austria%20and%20Prussia
Robertson, Priscilla Smith Revolutions of 1848: A Social History Princeton University Press, 2021 Team, The Investopedia “How Does Industrialization Lead to Urbanization?” Investopedia, Investopedia, 25 May 2022, https://www investopedia com/ask/answers/041515/how-does-industrialization-leadurbanization asp#:~:text=Key%20Takeaways,an%20increased%20dependence%20on%20water Team, The Investopedia “What Does Laissez-Faire Mean?” Investopedia, Investopedia, 26 July 2022, https://www investopedia com/terms/l/laissezfaire asp#: :text=Laissez%2Dfaire%20is%20an%20economic%20philosophy%20of%20free%2Dmarket%20capitalism,involved %20in%20business%20and%20markets
Vanhaute, Wouter Ronsijn and Eric “Between Two Worlds: The Hungry Forties in Europe ” RTE ie, RTÉ, 28 Jan 2022, https://www rte ie/history/the-great-irishfamine/2022/0127/1276178-the-hungry-forties-in-europe/ Wade, Lisa “Monocultures, Genetic Diversity, and the Social Landscape - Sociological Images ” Sociological Images Monocultures Genetic Diversity and the Social Landscape Comments, 2009, https://thesocietypages org/socimages/2009/01/23/monocultures-genetic-diversity-and-the-social-landscape/
Tusk’s New Government: Perceived Through the Lens of Abortion Chrzczonowicz, Magdalena “Hołownia Mrozi Aborcję A Jego Wyborcy I Wyborczynie W Komplecie Chcą Tej Ustawy [SONDAŻ] ” Hołownia Mrozi Aborcję A Jego Wyborcy Chcą Tej Ustawy [SONDAŻ] - OKO Press, OKO Press, 3 Apr 2024, oko press/holownia-mrozi-aborcje-a-jego-wyborcy-chca-tej-ustawy Accessed 03 Apr 2024 Chrzczonowicz, Magdalena “Tusk Ostro O Aborcji: To Nie Jest Kwestia Poglądów, to Wybór Kobiety Ostrzegam Naszych Partnerów ” Tusk Ostro o Aborcji: To Nie Jest Kwestia Poglądów, to Wybór Kobiety - OKO Press, OKO Press, 3 Apr 2024, oko press/tusk-mocno-o-aborcji-to-wybor-kobiety-ostrzegam-naszych-partnerow Accessed 03 Apr 2024 Https://Biblehub Com/ 2004, biblehub com/jeremiah/1-5 htm, Accessed 2024 Kasztelan, Marta “Will Poland’s New Government Legalize Abortion?” Foreign Policy, 12 Feb 2024, foreignpolicy com/2024/02/12/poland-abortion-rights-pro-choiceelection-coalition-pis-law-ban/ Accessed 03 Apr 2024
Lewicy, Rzecznik Nowej “Aborcja Czarzasty: Jeżeli Zdarzy Się Nieszczęście I Umrze Kobieta, to Nie Zrzucimy Tego Już Na PIS, to Będzie Nasza Wina ” Nowa Lewica- Strona Główna, 20 Mar 2024, lewica org pl/aktualnosci/10601-aborcja-czarzasty-jezeli-zdarzy-sie-nieszczescie-i-umrze-kobieta-to-nie-zrzucimy-tego-juz-na-pis-to-bedzie-naszawina Accessed 03 Apr 2024
NARRILLOS, Estefanía, and Nicolas DELALEU “"The Abortion Ban in Poland Is an Attack on Women’s and Fundamental Rights’’: News: European Parliament ” "The Abortion Ban in Poland Is an Attack on Women’s and Fundamental Rights’’ | News | European Parliament, 2021, www europarl europa eu/news/en/press-room/20210128IPR96601/theabortion-ban-in-poland-is-an-attack-on-women-s-and-fundamental-rights
Accessed 03 Apr 2024 Pacewicz, Piotr “Hołownia Robi Krok Do Tyłu: O Aborcji Może WCZEŚNIEJ, Rozmawiamy Problemem Jest PSL I Tusk?” Hołownia Robi Krok Do Tyłu: O Aborcji Może Wcześniej, Rozmawiamy - OKO Press, OKO Press, 3 Apr 2024, oko press/holownia-robi-krok-do-tylu-o-aborcja
Accessed 03 Apr 2024 Story, Krystof “Polki Wybrały Jak i Dlaczego Głosowały Kobiety ” Https://Www Tygodnikpowszechny Pl/, 2023, www tygodnikpowszechny pl/polki-wybraly-jak-i-dlaczegoglosowaly-kobiety-184995
Accessed 2024
The Constitution of the Republic of Poland: A Transcription National Archives, Republic of Poland Sejm, 16 April 2024, https://www sejm gov pl/prawo/konst/polski/kon1 htm
The Family Planning, Human Embryo Protection and Conditions of Permissibility of Abortion Act of 7 January 1993: A Transcription National Archives, Republic of Poland Sejm, 16 April 2024, https://www reproductiverights org/sites/crr civicactions net/files/documents/Polish%20abortion%20act--English%20translation pdf